Labour market deregulation is one of seven major reforms in the past 20 years that have been crucial to Australia's recent economic stability, Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane told a Business Council of Australia Dinner last night.
A rank and file team has taken over the leadership of the CEPU communications division's Victorian postal and telecommunications branch, while the division's national and NSW leadership has been returned.
In a blow to the AMWU's push for entitlements to be protected in the NEST trust fund, the AWU has struck a deal for ACI Glass Packaging Australia that provides for annual audits of the company's financial health.
The AIRC has found a clause requiring that contractors and subcontractors be paid site rates rendered an agreement non-certifiable, but has accepted a union membership at point of recruitment clause after receiving assurances about how it would be used.
A comparative study of agreements in NSW under the bargaining regimes of the Greiner-Fahey Coalition and Carr Labor governments shows a big rise in union deals, specified pay increases and family-friendly provisions under Carr.
More than 3,000 employees at the Australian Bureau of Statistics have won improved flexibility and a raft of family-friendly arrangements under a new non-union deal certified last week.
Six weeks paid maternity leave for Starwood hotel workers; ATO workers win permanency; Employers barred from sacking workers absent on emergency services duties; AIRC in time warp, says NSW Labor Council; Remuneration cap for dismissals now $85,400; States and ACTU fund new trade union training body; and new heads for the Remuneration Tribunal and WA EOC.
Telstra was today fighting for the right to go ahead unfettered with planned job reductions, following this week's landmark ruling on the powers conferred on the AIRC by dispute resolution clauses in certified agreements.
A Government-dominated Federal Parliamentary Committee has begun an inquiry into lifting levels of participation in the labour force as the population ages.
